Alvis Massengale, Mississippi Fiddle Music – FRC724

Description

Mississippi fiddler Alvis Massengale ably led the Newton County Hillbillies on their six 78rpm recordings in 1930. Although he continued to play locally, we know little of him until the early 1970s when he made two sets of field recordings, one for Gus Meade and a later one for Howard Marshall in preparation for the 1974 Smithsonian Folk Festival in Washington D.C. which featured Mississippi musicians. Then in his mid-seventies, he was still playing impressively well, as you can hear in these recordings. Several of his tunes are unique, such as “Sebastapol” for which we have no other source. With pleasure we bring these recordings to a larger audience. – Harry Bolick